July 23, 2025 • 23 mins
A deeply personal reflection on digital relationships, unexpected loss, and the legacy we leave behind when we live fully — at any age.
For three years, I coached April Pruitt — a late-blooming dreamer in her 60s who traded a career in finance for a new creative chapter. Together, we launched her podcast, celebrated her first paid voiceover gig, and laughed through tech struggles and cat cameos on Zoom.
Then suddenly… she was gone.
WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE
- It’s never too late to start: April launched a podcast and began a voice acting career at 68.
- Coaching is more than strategy: It’s about holding space, believing in someone, and watching them grow.
- Digital bonds are just as real — You can grieve someone you never met in person.
- Grief can show up in unexpected places: Losing a client might not seem like a big deal… until it is.
About the show:
Sam Laliberte - entrepreneur, digital nomad and freedom seeker, hosts the Freedom Lifestyle Podcast to expose people to the many ways you can design your dream life and unlock your own version of the freedom lifestyle. Her guests have empowered themselves through flexible work as a way to “have it all” - financial, location AND schedule freedom.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Sam Laliberte (00:02):
This is a story about a woman in her late
sixties who refused to let herage or her inexperience.
Prevent her from creating thelife that she always had wanted.
This is a story about my dearfriend April Pruitt.
April Pruitt (00:18):
Hi.
I am April, and I've been aclient of Sam's for just over
two years.
She helped me create my podcastand I'm on my third season.
Yay.
Sam Laliberte (00:29):
April 1st reached out to me about three years
ago.
She had recently been laid offfrom her job in finance and
decided that this was gonna bethe opportunity for her to do
something creative.
And on our first call, sheadmitted to me that she.
was Reserved about me.
She was hesitant.
(00:49):
She had recently been let downby a different business coach
who had kind of promised her theworld, but then didn't really
deliver, and she was at thatpoint in her dream life cycle
where she was.
like So close to giving up andso close to feeling that it was
never gonna happen.
(01:09):
And so I really felt a littlebit of that desperation on the
call with her.
Not that she was needing me toprove myself or that she was
testing me, but more that shejust desperately wanted this to
work and didn't want her get herhopes up a second time.
April had an amazing idea.
She had this vision of buildinga community and a podcast
(01:31):
series geared towards women whowere at the end of their
careers, who were at a laterstage of life.
Women who at that age of lifeoften feel like they are
overlooked, often feel likethey're invisible, people think
that they should be slowingdown, but these women that she
wanted to speak to didn't feellike they were ready to slow
(01:52):
down.
These women she had in mind,they still wanted to speed up.
There were so many things thatthey still wanted to do in their
life and they were still readyto bloom.
Her concept was all aboutliving and mid bloom, and I
thought it was.
Excellent.
I had never worked with acreator who was targeting that
market before, and I thoughtthat there was a lot of real
(02:15):
opportunity for her to make animpact in a meaningful way to
speak to women who, yeah, hadoften felt overlooked and
invisible sometimes as they gotlater in their career and aged.
April Pruitt (02:27):
I'm on a mission to flip the narrative and
redefine what it means to bemiddle aged.
Sam Laliberte (02:33):
Over the three years that I knew April, we
spoke on a weekly basis, whetherit be Google meets or Zoom
calls and video chats, or evenjust messages on WhatsApp.
She signed up for every singlegroup program I launched in the
three years that we knew eachother.
I really felt like she was oneof my biggest fans.
(02:55):
She believed in me and shewould mirror back to me what a
great coach she thought I was.
She would tell me how much ofan impact I was making in her
life, and it felt so satisfyingto know that I was genuinely
helping her and I was watchingher build her dream life and
finally do the thing that shehad wanted to do.
(03:16):
and I knew I was playing a bigrole in that process.
April Pruitt (03:19):
Sam is extremely supportive.
She's straightforward andhonest, and she will work hard
for you.
So I highly, highly recommendSam.
I.
Sam Laliberte (03:31):
Over the three years, I watched April learn so
many new skills.
She taught herself how tobecome a content creator who had
a podcast series, who had aYouTube channel.
She even told me she had adream of becoming a voice actor.
She had an incredible voice.
And we helped her launch thatas a revenue stream.
(03:54):
She was not scared to learn newskills, even though she didn't
grow up with the internet.
April was 64 years old when wefirst met, and I remember she
didn't know the keyboardshortcut for copy and paste.
I remember on one of our calls.
after several minutes, I wouldsay probably like 15 solid
(04:15):
minutes, she figured out how toshare her screen with me.
We were laughing the entiretime she could laugh at herself
so well, and I was watching herliterally highlight a sentence,
right click, hit copy, go upthat file, hit paste, and she
was doing that over and overagain.
And I'm like, April, do you notknow about the keyboard
(04:36):
shortcut for copy and paste?
That just paints a littlepicture for you about April's
savviness when it came tocomputer skills when we first
met, but within a year she hadpurchased equipment.
She was creating content, shewas editing her content a lot of
the time herself.
(04:56):
She really wanted to learn newskills and was going for it.
April Pruitt (05:00):
Hey, Sam.
So I wanna do short videos, butI need help with lighting where
I should be standing orsitting.
I'm not ready to do the walkaround.
With my phone, so, and do Ineed to get one of those ring
lights?
I'm just trying to figure outwhat's best before I start doing
that stuff.
Sam Laliberte (05:20):
She launched that podcast, she created her video
series, and not only was shefinally speaking to that woman
That she sought after that womanwho was in middle age still
wanting to bloom and feelingoverlooked by society.
But over a three years, sheconfided so much to me about her
life story.
(05:41):
For many years, she sufferedfrom childhoods.
sexual abuse and decided thatnow that she had a platform, she
wanted to talk about it and shewanted to.
Talk about trauma and shestarted to have therapists come
on her podcast and talk aboutwomen who at a later stage of
(06:01):
life, sometime these experiencesthat happen to you when you're
younger, that you thought youhad kind of blocked away.
Sometimes they come back uplater in life and she was really
bringing us along for thatjourney of what it was like to
unpack some of that stuff in hermidlife, in the phase of life
that she was in.
And people were responding toher content.
(06:23):
She was getting hundreds if notthousands of downloads on her
episodes.
I remember we pitched ApplePodcasts.
On why she should be featuredfor International Women's Day.
And they agreed, they featuredher right on the homepage in
March when they were celebratingfemale podcast creators on
(06:44):
their app.
And that was so rewarding tojust see how excited she was
about all of that.
I think she felt very validatedthat her idea that she had for
a really long time.
was finally out in the worldand people were loving it.
People were finding it helpfuland valuable.
(07:06):
She was my only client whoturned on the feature of fan
mail, which is a feature you canturn on as a podcast creator
who hosts on Buzzsprout andpeople were writing in.
I remember thinking when shewanted to turn that on, like,
oh, it's so hard to get two-wayengagement as a podcast creator,
You know this if you have yourown show, but sure enough, she
(07:28):
had people writing in fan mailabout the impact that her
podcast was having on theirlives, and it was so exciting
for her and she was really justgetting started.
I.
I recall over the past year,she decided that she wanted to
turn one of her spare bedroomsinto a recording studio, and she
(07:53):
had invested in all of this newgear, microphones,
soundproofing cameras.
She had hired a couple youngboys who had lived on the street
to come in and set everythingup for her and do all of the
labor and heavy lifting.
She was so excited about wherethings were gonna go, and had
(08:14):
recently brought her series toYouTube, and while it was a bit
of a jump for her, she was verynervous speaking on camera at
the beginning.
Over several calls and severalversions of ring lights, she
finally felt ready to startcreating videos and now having a
video element to her podcast.
April Pruitt (08:34):
um, this lighting, I just don't look good in it,
so I'm still trying to figurethis shit out.
All right, see, so.
Sam Laliberte (08:46):
Two months ago, April messaged me saying that
she was diagnosed with breastcancer.
It was very sudden.
She found out that it was stagefour and that it was past the
point of being able to reallyreverse the damage that had been
done.
But in her own words, she saidit wasn't a death sentence.
(09:10):
The doctors had told her shehad years to live and she wasn't
gonna let this stop her.
She was really gonna make themost of these next couple of
years.
To put it into perspective ofreally where her head was at.
I had just launched my brandnew pod squad program, which is
a six months intensive programfor established podcasters where
(09:36):
you have the option to do.
Unlimited coaching calls withme.
That's the fast track option.
And not only was she ready tosign up for the six month
program, she wanted fast track.
She didn't want just a monthlycall.
She wanted to be able to havecalls every single week, connect
as often as possible, and she.
(09:58):
was Speeding up.
She was not slowing down.
I remember feeling reallyhesitant about taking her money
and enrolling her in the programafter she had shared with me
her health condition and thisnews she had.
But she told me, now is abetter time than ever.
I have ideas for how I canbring women along for this
(10:18):
journey of me being diagnosedwith women's cancer and going
through.
The reality of someone who hasstage four breast cancer, she
felt like it was an opportunityto create more content.
She was inspired by it all.
April and I had our last videocall on June 5th.
I remember she was in ahospital bed.
(10:42):
And she had given me the headsup ahead of time that she was
gonna be taking the call fromthe hospital.
But not to worry, she washeading home in just a couple of
days.
She was so excited to bereunited with her two cats that
were waiting at home for her,and she had sent me a selfie
beforehand.
I'm gonna put it on the screenhere for you to see of her being
(11:05):
like, heads up.
This is my current.
State.
And so I get on the video callnot really knowing what to
expect, what kinda condition isshe gonna be in?
What is her mood gonna be like?
Is she gonna be low energy?
what is her vibe gonna be?
And.
Her vibe was better than ever.
She was laughing with thestaff.
(11:26):
She was laughing with me.
She was introducing me to someof the nurses that had been
caring for her who were gonnacome on the podcast and she was
gonna be interviewing them.
And her purpose for this callfrom her hospital bed is she
wanted me to show her how tofinally make an Instagram reel.
We had gotten her on Instagramover the years.
(11:48):
We were working together, andshe knew how to regularly post,
but she had never actuallycreated an Instagram reel yet,
and so we were trulyworkshopping it.
I had my phone out.
She had her We were doing stepby step of what we were gonna be
posting and how she was gonnaadd stickers to it and do the
captions and add a filter thatwas flattering.
(12:11):
We were workshopping the wholething.
And then I asked her, well,what is the reel about?
Because she had prerecorded itbefore I hopped on the call, and
it was a video right from herhospital bed, a selfie in her
gown, talking to her audience.
About this announcement, shewas announcing the fact that she
(12:33):
had breast cancer and wasdeclaring that she wasn't gonna
let this stop her, and she wasactually going to bring people
along for the journey.
Everything from how she foundout.
To what some of the warningsigns were that she wanted other
women to know about.
She wanted to create contentabout how people get kind of
(12:54):
weird when you tell them thatyou have cancer and how she had
advice for people who maybe whohad friends or family members
who had cancer to know what tosay because she understood it
was uncomfortable.
She had so many ideas and somany things to share.
And sure enough, on that callon June 5th, we hit published
(13:16):
together and she posted herfirst ever Instagram reel
April Pruitt (13:20):
I never thought I would be making a video like
this, but, but I am, I havecancer, I have stage four, um,
cancer that's metastasized, butthere.
Is a lot of hope and livingwith cancer these days.
(13:42):
So, what can I say?
I'm still in shock.
It's been probably a littleover two months since it was
confirmed.
So I'm taking you on this newjourney I never thought I would
be on, and I hope that you'llstay with me as I work through
this progress and I get a betterunderstanding of what people I
(14:05):
know have gone through as I'mgoing through this process.
So life is forever changing, isforever evolving, is forever
surprising you.
I.
Sam Laliberte (14:18):
that was April's final post she ever did on
social media, and it was thefinal time her and I spoke.
A couple weeks later, we hadour group call scheduled for the
pod squad, and she didn't showup to it, which I didn't think
was abnormal.
Sometimes April would get busyand she would miss meetings, and
(14:42):
I wouldn't hear from her for acouple days, and then she would
say to me, sorry, things werecrazy.
Or she would say, you knowwhat?
I just wasn't feeling up forit.
My mental health was strugglingtoday and I just, I couldn't
join, and that would happen overthe last several years.
And so when she didn't join thecall, I didn't really think
anything of it.
I sent her a text saying, wemissed you.
(15:04):
We missed your energy.
I was sad that she missed thegroup call because she just has
such an amazing energy.
And as I mentioned, anincredible voice and just on
camera presence.
So whenever we would be sharingour highs and our lows from the
week, she just had a way ofjust charming the entire group.
and everyone just loved Apriland having her on the call was
(15:27):
always just such a treat.
So I was disappointed when shedidn't join, but I wasn't
worried.
I sent her a text message,basically just saying, Hey, we
missed you.
Hope to see you on the nextone.
A week or so went by and Istill didn't hear back from her,
so I sent her another textsaying, Hey, how's it going?
Haven't heard from you.
And when I did that, I noticedshe hadn't been online in like
(15:51):
10 days on WhatsApp.
And that's kind of when Istarted to get a bit worried.
That felt strange, but still inmy head I thought, okay, well.
Maybe there's something wrongwith her phone.
Maybe she got a new phone.
She hasn't figured out how toupdate WhatsApp, or she doesn't
have my number or likesomething, it's a technological
thing.
So then I sent her an emailsaying, Hey, I noticed my last
(16:14):
message didn't go through toyou.
Just checking in.
Hope everything's okay.
I'm flexible all week.
Wanna hop on a call?
If Nothing happens.
A week later now I'm reallyworried.
I send her another emailsaying, are you okay?
I'm I'm starting to worry.
A week after that, I, and this,this is a bit morbid, I
basically get a notificationthat her credit card went
(16:37):
through for another month.
She was on a subscription forthe coaching program.
And when I saw that, I waslike, what is going on with
April?
Like, why have I not heard fromher now in several weeks?
This is scaring me and I wenton LinkedIn and I found the
post, the video that I hadhelped her make that Instagram
(16:59):
reel, making her announcement.
She had actually went andposted it on LinkedIn as well,
I'm reading through thecomments, oh my goodness, April,
I'm so proud of you.
You're so strong.
Thank you for sharing this.
You can do it.
I'll be thinking of you.
And sure enough, I see someoneposted a link to the obituary
(17:19):
when I clicked on that link, andI saw her smiling, beautiful,
glowing face in the way.
That I was so used to seeingit, but in this context it was,
it was rattling It took mybreath away.
I was just in the middle of aworkday on my computer, and I
audibly gasped.
When I saw that, I saw that shehad passed away on June 17th,
(17:44):
which was 12 days after thelast.
Video call that I had with herwhen I was helping her create
that video and create thatannouncement.
And when we were talking aboutall these ideas for all this
content that she was gonna becreating, and that is the
saddest part about all of thisis that April wasn't ready to
go.
Like she had so much more toshare.
(18:05):
She had so many ideas and therewas so much that she still
wanted to do with her life andwith her content.
And she wanted me as her rideor die.
You know, she wanted me in hercorner through that whole
journey, and I was, I wanted tobe there for all of that, and I,
I had every intention to bethere for that.
It is a very strange feelingfinding out a client of yours
(18:29):
has passed in that way, and atthis point she had passed away
several weeks ago, and it mademe wonder like, would anybody
have ever told me?
Did anybody even in her lifeknow about me?
Like did her friends and familyknow about this person on the
internet that she had beentalking to for three years?
(18:50):
It was like this thing, thisrelationship that we had built
on the internet that I reallythought was just kind of a coach
coachee client, professionaltype relationship, and.
What I realized since she'sbeen gone is that, oh my
goodness, it was, it was so muchmore than just a line item on
my revenue tracker.
She really has been thisconstant presence in my life
(19:14):
over the last three years.
Somebody that I also couldalways count on, as much as I
was her coach, she was my loyalstudent who I knew would always
be there to support whateverprogram I had.
And.
Whatever idea I wanted to putout there, like she was gonna be
a cheerleader and, and reallymy biggest fan, something I've
(19:37):
really been reflecting on is howreal these online relationships
can be.
April and I never met face toface.
We never hugged, we nevershared a meal.
But over three years, over allthe video calls, voice notes,
hundreds of messages, she reallybecame a part of my life.
(19:58):
It is a strange thing to losesomebody that you've never
physically been in the same roomwith, but you still feel the
weight of their absence soheavily.
These connections that we makeonline, they are very real, even
if the relationship exclusivelyexists online.
(20:21):
And I'm still waiting for amessage from her of saying, Hey,
sweetie, what?
She would always call me like,you're so silly as if you're
posting about that.
I'm right here.
Everything's fine, and justlaughing at me the way that she
always did.
I.
It reminds me that coaching,at, at least the way that I
(20:42):
approach it, and I'm guessingthe way you approach it too, if
you're a coach who listens tothe show, it isn't just about
strategies and accountabilityand checking boxes, Coaching is
about witnessing somebody'sevolution and it's about being
there for the small wins and thebig breakthroughs.
And to coach someone to liketruly hold space for their
(21:03):
becoming is such an honor.
And April's journey was noexception.
I am sad for so many reasons,but I'm mostly sad that she had
so much more to share.
She had big dreams even as shewas approaching her seventies.
She was still upskilling, shewas still evolving.
She was still investing inherself.
April Pruitt (21:24):
Bottom.
It has post story reel live.
Yeah.
So we're gonna create a story.
Okay.
So, okay, now, okay.
So story.
It's still me.
Yeah.
Nothing's happening.
Is the camera looking at you?
Hey everyone.
Hey, mid bloomers.
Here I am with our next to lastepisode for the year, so let's
(21:48):
get rolling.
Sam Laliberte (21:49):
She had actually just discovered the power of
chat, GPT And she was so excitedabout the potential.
She was sending me regularscreenshots about her
interactions with chat GPT, andit was completely blowing her
mind, and she was so excited tobe leveraging all of this new
technology to build her dreamsand to build that impact and to
(22:13):
scale the success that she hadalready had.
April was just getting startedand she, to me, is such a
reminder that we have no ideahow much time we have left on
Earth.
Friends, it is a reminder thattoday is a gift, and if you have
something to say, you bettersay it when you have the chance
(22:37):
and you better take that momentwhile you have it because.
This is the only time that'sguaranteed for us, right?
And if you have dreams, nomatter what age, it's not too
late to go after them to learnsomething new and to make a
shift and to make sure that youleave this earth really
(22:57):
satisfied by what youaccomplished, that you lived the
life that you authenticallyknew you wanted to live, and you
went for it.
April is not leaving us withregrets.
April is leaving us before herpeak.
And she was heading there.
She had that momentum comingand I will forever wonder what.
(23:23):
Was waiting for her I.
and what she was about toaccomplish because she was on
the up.
She really was.
And that makes me just so sad.
And so this episode isdedicated to April to everybody
who's still evolving, who'sstill dreaming, who's still
using their voice, no matterwhat age, no matter what you're
(23:44):
facing, you're not done yet.
so use your voice while youhave it and remember, it's never
too late to dream or to startover.
This is a story about a woman in her late
sixties who refused to let herage or her inexperience.
Prevent her from creating thelife that she always had wanted.
This is a story about my dearfriend April Pruitt.
April Pruitt (00:18):
Hi.
I am April, and I've been aclient of Sam's for just over
two years.
She helped me create my podcastand I'm on my third season.
Yay.
Sam Laliberte (00:29):
April 1st reached out to me about three years
ago.
She had recently been laid offfrom her job in finance and
decided that this was gonna bethe opportunity for her to do
something creative.
And on our first call, sheadmitted to me that she.
was Reserved about me.
She was hesitant.
(00:49):
She had recently been let downby a different business coach
who had kind of promised her theworld, but then didn't really
deliver, and she was at thatpoint in her dream life cycle
where she was.
like So close to giving up andso close to feeling that it was
never gonna happen.
(01:09):
And so I really felt a littlebit of that desperation on the
call with her.
Not that she was needing me toprove myself or that she was
testing me, but more that shejust desperately wanted this to
work and didn't want her get herhopes up a second time.
April had an amazing idea.
She had this vision of buildinga community and a podcast
(01:31):
series geared towards women whowere at the end of their
careers, who were at a laterstage of life.
Women who at that age of lifeoften feel like they are
overlooked, often feel likethey're invisible, people think
that they should be slowingdown, but these women that she
wanted to speak to didn't feellike they were ready to slow
(01:52):
down.
These women she had in mind,they still wanted to speed up.
There were so many things thatthey still wanted to do in their
life and they were still readyto bloom.
Her concept was all aboutliving and mid bloom, and I
thought it was.
Excellent.
I had never worked with acreator who was targeting that
market before, and I thoughtthat there was a lot of real
(02:15):
opportunity for her to make animpact in a meaningful way to
speak to women who, yeah, hadoften felt overlooked and
invisible sometimes as they gotlater in their career and aged.
April Pruitt (02:27):
I'm on a mission to flip the narrative and
redefine what it means to bemiddle aged.
Sam Laliberte (02:33):
Over the three years that I knew April, we
spoke on a weekly basis, whetherit be Google meets or Zoom
calls and video chats, or evenjust messages on WhatsApp.
She signed up for every singlegroup program I launched in the
three years that we knew eachother.
I really felt like she was oneof my biggest fans.
(02:55):
She believed in me and shewould mirror back to me what a
great coach she thought I was.
She would tell me how much ofan impact I was making in her
life, and it felt so satisfyingto know that I was genuinely
helping her and I was watchingher build her dream life and
finally do the thing that shehad wanted to do.
(03:16):
and I knew I was playing a bigrole in that process.
April Pruitt (03:19):
Sam is extremely supportive.
She's straightforward andhonest, and she will work hard
for you.
So I highly, highly recommendSam.
I.
Sam Laliberte (03:31):
Over the three years, I watched April learn so
many new skills.
She taught herself how tobecome a content creator who had
a podcast series, who had aYouTube channel.
She even told me she had adream of becoming a voice actor.
She had an incredible voice.
And we helped her launch thatas a revenue stream.
(03:54):
She was not scared to learn newskills, even though she didn't
grow up with the internet.
April was 64 years old when wefirst met, and I remember she
didn't know the keyboardshortcut for copy and paste.
I remember on one of our calls.
after several minutes, I wouldsay probably like 15 solid
(04:15):
minutes, she figured out how toshare her screen with me.
We were laughing the entiretime she could laugh at herself
so well, and I was watching herliterally highlight a sentence,
right click, hit copy, go upthat file, hit paste, and she
was doing that over and overagain.
And I'm like, April, do you notknow about the keyboard
(04:36):
shortcut for copy and paste?
That just paints a littlepicture for you about April's
savviness when it came tocomputer skills when we first
met, but within a year she hadpurchased equipment.
She was creating content, shewas editing her content a lot of
the time herself.
(04:56):
She really wanted to learn newskills and was going for it.
April Pruitt (05:00):
Hey, Sam.
So I wanna do short videos, butI need help with lighting where
I should be standing orsitting.
I'm not ready to do the walkaround.
With my phone, so, and do Ineed to get one of those ring
lights?
I'm just trying to figure outwhat's best before I start doing
that stuff.
Sam Laliberte (05:20):
She launched that podcast, she created her video
series, and not only was shefinally speaking to that woman
That she sought after that womanwho was in middle age still
wanting to bloom and feelingoverlooked by society.
But over a three years, sheconfided so much to me about her
life story.
(05:41):
For many years, she sufferedfrom childhoods.
sexual abuse and decided thatnow that she had a platform, she
wanted to talk about it and shewanted to.
Talk about trauma and shestarted to have therapists come
on her podcast and talk aboutwomen who at a later stage of
(06:01):
life, sometime these experiencesthat happen to you when you're
younger, that you thought youhad kind of blocked away.
Sometimes they come back uplater in life and she was really
bringing us along for thatjourney of what it was like to
unpack some of that stuff in hermidlife, in the phase of life
that she was in.
And people were responding toher content.
(06:23):
She was getting hundreds if notthousands of downloads on her
episodes.
I remember we pitched ApplePodcasts.
On why she should be featuredfor International Women's Day.
And they agreed, they featuredher right on the homepage in
March when they were celebratingfemale podcast creators on
(06:44):
their app.
And that was so rewarding tojust see how excited she was
about all of that.
I think she felt very validatedthat her idea that she had for
a really long time.
was finally out in the worldand people were loving it.
People were finding it helpfuland valuable.
(07:06):
She was my only client whoturned on the feature of fan
mail, which is a feature you canturn on as a podcast creator
who hosts on Buzzsprout andpeople were writing in.
I remember thinking when shewanted to turn that on, like,
oh, it's so hard to get two-wayengagement as a podcast creator,
You know this if you have yourown show, but sure enough, she
(07:28):
had people writing in fan mailabout the impact that her
podcast was having on theirlives, and it was so exciting
for her and she was really justgetting started.
I.
I recall over the past year,she decided that she wanted to
turn one of her spare bedroomsinto a recording studio, and she
(07:53):
had invested in all of this newgear, microphones,
soundproofing cameras.
She had hired a couple youngboys who had lived on the street
to come in and set everythingup for her and do all of the
labor and heavy lifting.
She was so excited about wherethings were gonna go, and had
(08:14):
recently brought her series toYouTube, and while it was a bit
of a jump for her, she was verynervous speaking on camera at
the beginning.
Over several calls and severalversions of ring lights, she
finally felt ready to startcreating videos and now having a
video element to her podcast.
April Pruitt (08:34):
um, this lighting, I just don't look good in it,
so I'm still trying to figurethis shit out.
All right, see, so.
Sam Laliberte (08:46):
Two months ago, April messaged me saying that
she was diagnosed with breastcancer.
It was very sudden.
She found out that it was stagefour and that it was past the
point of being able to reallyreverse the damage that had been
done.
But in her own words, she saidit wasn't a death sentence.
(09:10):
The doctors had told her shehad years to live and she wasn't
gonna let this stop her.
She was really gonna make themost of these next couple of
years.
To put it into perspective ofreally where her head was at.
I had just launched my brandnew pod squad program, which is
a six months intensive programfor established podcasters where
(09:36):
you have the option to do.
Unlimited coaching calls withme.
That's the fast track option.
And not only was she ready tosign up for the six month
program, she wanted fast track.
She didn't want just a monthlycall.
She wanted to be able to havecalls every single week, connect
as often as possible, and she.
(09:58):
was Speeding up.
She was not slowing down.
I remember feeling reallyhesitant about taking her money
and enrolling her in the programafter she had shared with me
her health condition and thisnews she had.
But she told me, now is abetter time than ever.
I have ideas for how I canbring women along for this
(10:18):
journey of me being diagnosedwith women's cancer and going
through.
The reality of someone who hasstage four breast cancer, she
felt like it was an opportunityto create more content.
She was inspired by it all.
April and I had our last videocall on June 5th.
I remember she was in ahospital bed.
(10:42):
And she had given me the headsup ahead of time that she was
gonna be taking the call fromthe hospital.
But not to worry, she washeading home in just a couple of
days.
She was so excited to bereunited with her two cats that
were waiting at home for her,and she had sent me a selfie
beforehand.
I'm gonna put it on the screenhere for you to see of her being
(11:05):
like, heads up.
This is my current.
State.
And so I get on the video callnot really knowing what to
expect, what kinda condition isshe gonna be in?
What is her mood gonna be like?
Is she gonna be low energy?
what is her vibe gonna be?
And.
Her vibe was better than ever.
She was laughing with thestaff.
(11:26):
She was laughing with me.
She was introducing me to someof the nurses that had been
caring for her who were gonnacome on the podcast and she was
gonna be interviewing them.
And her purpose for this callfrom her hospital bed is she
wanted me to show her how tofinally make an Instagram reel.
We had gotten her on Instagramover the years.
(11:48):
We were working together, andshe knew how to regularly post,
but she had never actuallycreated an Instagram reel yet,
and so we were trulyworkshopping it.
I had my phone out.
She had her We were doing stepby step of what we were gonna be
posting and how she was gonnaadd stickers to it and do the
captions and add a filter thatwas flattering.
(12:11):
We were workshopping the wholething.
And then I asked her, well,what is the reel about?
Because she had prerecorded itbefore I hopped on the call, and
it was a video right from herhospital bed, a selfie in her
gown, talking to her audience.
About this announcement, shewas announcing the fact that she
(12:33):
had breast cancer and wasdeclaring that she wasn't gonna
let this stop her, and she wasactually going to bring people
along for the journey.
Everything from how she foundout.
To what some of the warningsigns were that she wanted other
women to know about.
She wanted to create contentabout how people get kind of
(12:54):
weird when you tell them thatyou have cancer and how she had
advice for people who maybe whohad friends or family members
who had cancer to know what tosay because she understood it
was uncomfortable.
She had so many ideas and somany things to share.
And sure enough, on that callon June 5th, we hit published
(13:16):
together and she posted herfirst ever Instagram reel
April Pruitt (13:20):
I never thought I would be making a video like
this, but, but I am, I havecancer, I have stage four, um,
cancer that's metastasized, butthere.
Is a lot of hope and livingwith cancer these days.
(13:42):
So, what can I say?
I'm still in shock.
It's been probably a littleover two months since it was
confirmed.
So I'm taking you on this newjourney I never thought I would
be on, and I hope that you'llstay with me as I work through
this progress and I get a betterunderstanding of what people I
(14:05):
know have gone through as I'mgoing through this process.
So life is forever changing, isforever evolving, is forever
surprising you.
I.
Sam Laliberte (14:18):
that was April's final post she ever did on
social media, and it was thefinal time her and I spoke.
A couple weeks later, we hadour group call scheduled for the
pod squad, and she didn't showup to it, which I didn't think
was abnormal.
Sometimes April would get busyand she would miss meetings, and
(14:42):
I wouldn't hear from her for acouple days, and then she would
say to me, sorry, things werecrazy.
Or she would say, you knowwhat?
I just wasn't feeling up forit.
My mental health was strugglingtoday and I just, I couldn't
join, and that would happen overthe last several years.
And so when she didn't join thecall, I didn't really think
anything of it.
I sent her a text saying, wemissed you.
(15:04):
We missed your energy.
I was sad that she missed thegroup call because she just has
such an amazing energy.
And as I mentioned, anincredible voice and just on
camera presence.
So whenever we would be sharingour highs and our lows from the
week, she just had a way ofjust charming the entire group.
and everyone just loved Apriland having her on the call was
(15:27):
always just such a treat.
So I was disappointed when shedidn't join, but I wasn't
worried.
I sent her a text message,basically just saying, Hey, we
missed you.
Hope to see you on the nextone.
A week or so went by and Istill didn't hear back from her,
so I sent her another textsaying, Hey, how's it going?
Haven't heard from you.
And when I did that, I noticedshe hadn't been online in like
(15:51):
10 days on WhatsApp.
And that's kind of when Istarted to get a bit worried.
That felt strange, but still inmy head I thought, okay, well.
Maybe there's something wrongwith her phone.
Maybe she got a new phone.
She hasn't figured out how toupdate WhatsApp, or she doesn't
have my number or likesomething, it's a technological
thing.
So then I sent her an emailsaying, Hey, I noticed my last
(16:14):
message didn't go through toyou.
Just checking in.
Hope everything's okay.
I'm flexible all week.
Wanna hop on a call?
If Nothing happens.
A week later now I'm reallyworried.
I send her another emailsaying, are you okay?
I'm I'm starting to worry.
A week after that, I, and this,this is a bit morbid, I
basically get a notificationthat her credit card went
(16:37):
through for another month.
She was on a subscription forthe coaching program.
And when I saw that, I waslike, what is going on with
April?
Like, why have I not heard fromher now in several weeks?
This is scaring me and I wenton LinkedIn and I found the
post, the video that I hadhelped her make that Instagram
(16:59):
reel, making her announcement.
She had actually went andposted it on LinkedIn as well,
I'm reading through thecomments, oh my goodness, April,
I'm so proud of you.
You're so strong.
Thank you for sharing this.
You can do it.
I'll be thinking of you.
And sure enough, I see someoneposted a link to the obituary
(17:19):
when I clicked on that link, andI saw her smiling, beautiful,
glowing face in the way.
That I was so used to seeingit, but in this context it was,
it was rattling It took mybreath away.
I was just in the middle of aworkday on my computer, and I
audibly gasped.
When I saw that, I saw that shehad passed away on June 17th,
(17:44):
which was 12 days after thelast.
Video call that I had with herwhen I was helping her create
that video and create thatannouncement.
And when we were talking aboutall these ideas for all this
content that she was gonna becreating, and that is the
saddest part about all of thisis that April wasn't ready to
go.
Like she had so much more toshare.
(18:05):
She had so many ideas and therewas so much that she still
wanted to do with her life andwith her content.
And she wanted me as her rideor die.
You know, she wanted me in hercorner through that whole
journey, and I was, I wanted tobe there for all of that, and I,
I had every intention to bethere for that.
It is a very strange feelingfinding out a client of yours
(18:29):
has passed in that way, and atthis point she had passed away
several weeks ago, and it mademe wonder like, would anybody
have ever told me?
Did anybody even in her lifeknow about me?
Like did her friends and familyknow about this person on the
internet that she had beentalking to for three years?
(18:50):
It was like this thing, thisrelationship that we had built
on the internet that I reallythought was just kind of a coach
coachee client, professionaltype relationship, and.
What I realized since she'sbeen gone is that, oh my
goodness, it was, it was so muchmore than just a line item on
my revenue tracker.
She really has been thisconstant presence in my life
(19:14):
over the last three years.
Somebody that I also couldalways count on, as much as I
was her coach, she was my loyalstudent who I knew would always
be there to support whateverprogram I had.
And.
Whatever idea I wanted to putout there, like she was gonna be
a cheerleader and, and reallymy biggest fan, something I've
(19:37):
really been reflecting on is howreal these online relationships
can be.
April and I never met face toface.
We never hugged, we nevershared a meal.
But over three years, over allthe video calls, voice notes,
hundreds of messages, she reallybecame a part of my life.
(19:58):
It is a strange thing to losesomebody that you've never
physically been in the same roomwith, but you still feel the
weight of their absence soheavily.
These connections that we makeonline, they are very real, even
if the relationship exclusivelyexists online.
(20:21):
And I'm still waiting for amessage from her of saying, Hey,
sweetie, what?
She would always call me like,you're so silly as if you're
posting about that.
I'm right here.
Everything's fine, and justlaughing at me the way that she
always did.
I.
It reminds me that coaching,at, at least the way that I
(20:42):
approach it, and I'm guessingthe way you approach it too, if
you're a coach who listens tothe show, it isn't just about
strategies and accountabilityand checking boxes, Coaching is
about witnessing somebody'sevolution and it's about being
there for the small wins and thebig breakthroughs.
And to coach someone to liketruly hold space for their
(21:03):
becoming is such an honor.
And April's journey was noexception.
I am sad for so many reasons,but I'm mostly sad that she had
so much more to share.
She had big dreams even as shewas approaching her seventies.
She was still upskilling, shewas still evolving.
She was still investing inherself.
April Pruitt (21:24):
Bottom.
It has post story reel live.
Yeah.
So we're gonna create a story.
Okay.
So, okay, now, okay.
So story.
It's still me.
Yeah.
Nothing's happening.
Is the camera looking at you?
Hey everyone.
Hey, mid bloomers.
Here I am with our next to lastepisode for the year, so let's
(21:48):
get rolling.
Sam Laliberte (21:49):
She had actually just discovered the power of
chat, GPT And she was so excitedabout the potential.
She was sending me regularscreenshots about her
interactions with chat GPT, andit was completely blowing her
mind, and she was so excited tobe leveraging all of this new
technology to build her dreamsand to build that impact and to
(22:13):
scale the success that she hadalready had.
April was just getting startedand she, to me, is such a
reminder that we have no ideahow much time we have left on
Earth.
Friends, it is a reminder thattoday is a gift, and if you have
something to say, you bettersay it when you have the chance
(22:37):
and you better take that momentwhile you have it because.
This is the only time that'sguaranteed for us, right?
And if you have dreams, nomatter what age, it's not too
late to go after them to learnsomething new and to make a
shift and to make sure that youleave this earth really
(22:57):
satisfied by what youaccomplished, that you lived the
life that you authenticallyknew you wanted to live, and you
went for it.
April is not leaving us withregrets.
April is leaving us before herpeak.
And she was heading there.
She had that momentum comingand I will forever wonder what.
(23:23):
Was waiting for her I.
and what she was about toaccomplish because she was on
the up.
She really was.
And that makes me just so sad.
And so this episode isdedicated to April to everybody
who's still evolving, who'sstill dreaming, who's still
using their voice, no matterwhat age, no matter what you're
(23:44):
facing, you're not done yet.
so use your voice while youhave it and remember, it's never
too late to dream or to startover.
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